Confronting Scientific Racism in Psychology: Lessons From Evolutionary Biology and Genetics

Although the American Psychological Association has taken a strong antiracism stance, scientific racism continues to be published in psychology journals and scholarly books. Recent articles claim that the folk categories of race are genetically meaningful divisions and that evolved genetic differences among races and nations are important for explaining immutable differences in cognitive ability, educational attainment, crime, sexual behavior, and wealth; all claims that are opposed by a strong scientific consensus to the contrary. These claims remain a serious source of harm through the naturalization of inequality and through support for the work of racial extremists. Contemporary "racial hereditarian research" claims to rest on modern genetics and evolutionary biology and to draw on their methods, such as genome-wide association studies. These new arguments fail to meet the evidentiary and ethical standards of these disciplines for the study of human variation. If psychology adopted standards from genetics and evolutionary biology, the current racial hereditarian work would be ineligible for publication. Actions that the American Psychological Association can take to deal with scientific racism are described. Public Significance Statement Some psychologists claim "new evidence" that genes, not racism, are primarily responsible for racial differences in education, income, and incarceration, a claim that is taken up by those promoting racial inequality and White nationalism. This "new evidence" does not meet established scientific and ethical standards of genetics and evolutionary biology. By adopting the standards of genetics and evolutionary biology, psychologists can help eliminate the harm caused by scientific racism while preserving academic freedom.